Did a business just “swipe” your driver’s license or State ID? Concerned about what’s going to happen to the personal information that was just scanned from your driver’s license barcode?

YOU SHOULD BE. Invasion of Privacy. Identity theft. Abuse of personal information.

A Hawaii driver’s license or state identification card barcode contains a lot of digitized personal information including your name, address, date of birth, hair color, eye color, height, weight, gender, license expiration date, organ donor status, driver’s license number, fingerprint, medical information, and driver classification code – personal information that you shouldn’t have to share with the rest of the world. Yet increasingly, private businesses are requiring you to show I.D. for everyday purchases – building massive databases of barcode information with every transaction. Why? Because they could – until now.

On June 28, 2012, Hawaii passed a law limiting access to your driver’s license barcode.

H.R.S. § 487J better protects your privacy by banning private businesses from scanning your driver’s license and collecting, storing, using and/or sharing the personal information contained in the barcode, except in limited circumstances. Before the law passed, a business in Hawaii could swipe the barcode on your driver’s license for any reason, use it in any manner, including selling the information to third parties for marketing, advertising, or promotional activities, and keep your information for as long as it wanted.

To record, retain, or transmit information by a covered entity governed by the medical privacy and security rules as established by the Department of Health and Human Services

Q. Which stores in Hawaii use driver’s license scanners?

A. Any store that uses The Retail Equation’s return authorization solutions.If you know of more stores, please tell us! (list as of 7/24/12). The ACLU of Hawaii recently sent a letter to the General Managers of each Hawaii store known to be affected by this new law, read the letter here.

Famous Footwear

Victoria’s Secret

Finish Line

7-11

Best Buy

Target

Walmart

Verizon

AT&T

Q: What should I do if I think that my license is being scanned illegally?